ilan abehassera

we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company. #### today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i'll be straight about what's happening, why, and what it means for everyone. first off, if you're one of the people affected, you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition (if you’re outside the U.S. you’ll receive similar support but exact details are going to vary based on local requirements). i want you to know that before anything else. everyone will be notified today, whether you're being asked to leave, entering consultation, or asked to stay. we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly. i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. a smaller company also gives us the space to grow our business the right way, on our own terms, instead of constantly reacting to market pressures. a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong, and we've built in flexibility to account for that, and do the right thing for our customers. we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly, and share whatever you wish. i'll also be hosting a live video session to thank everyone at 3:35pm pacific. i know doing it this way might feel awkward. i'd rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold. to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today. that's a fact that i'll honor forever. this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward. to those staying…i made this decision, and i'll own it. what i'm asking of you is to build with me. we're going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do. how we work, how we create, how we serve our customers. our customers will feel this shift too, and we're going to help them navigate it: towards a future where they can build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces. that's what i'm focused on now. expect a note from me tomorrow. jack

A big week ahead. It all starts Monday morning! #AppleLaunch

Somewhere in early 2022, Avinatan started his first job with @nvidia, a decision that would later prove to be one of the best he ever made in his life. Throughout the entire two years that Avinatan was held captive, @nvidia was much more than just a workplace; it was one big family. The immense support the company gave Avinatan and his family was extraordinary. People who had never even met him held signs with his picture every single day, every meeting began with a mention of him and a call for his return, and they even kept his desk corner untouched until the day he came back. Everyone—absolutely everyone—stepped up and helped: teammates, his direct manager, employees at the Israel site, and senior executives. All of this was done in full coordination and with direct support from the company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, who personally accompanied the family and called repeatedly to ask how they were doing. @nvidia never forgot Avinatan, who had only worked there for a year and a half before he was kidnapped. Seeing how the company stood by him the entire time shows us what true mutual responsibility really means—how even in days of success and prosperity, they stood by their employee, and fought alongside us. Thank you!!

Two years. Two years passed since the last moment I saw Avinatan, the love of my life. Two years since the moment terrorists kidnapped us, put me on a motorcycle, and tore me away from Avinatan before the eyes of the entire world. From that moment, our journey in captivity was separated. I was held captive with children, women, and the elderly, while Avinatan was held alone. I was mostly kept inside houses, while Avinatan was only in the tunnels. Hamas released videos and signs of life from me, while there was no information at all about Avinatan. I was held captive by Hamas for 246 days, while Avinatan was held for 738 days. I came back in a heroic rescue operation, and Avinatan returned in a deal. But both of us, against all odds, came home and were reunited! I cannot put into words the range of emotions I felt when I saw him for the first time after so long. Each of us faced death countless times, and yet, after two years apart, we are finally taking our first steps together again in the State of Israel. At last, we can begin our healing together. The recovery will be long; we still haven’t truly processed what has happened here over these past two years. But we won. We won our personal war, and the war of all those who fought alongside us to reach this moment. And now, the time has come to begin our shared journey together. I want to say a huge thank you, first and foremost, to the @IDF soldiers and security forces who have been fighting for so long and risk their lives for us every single day. Thank you to our family, friends, and to the people of Israel, Am Yisrael, who raised their voices when we couldn’t speak. To the people around the world who embraced us, to all the incredible individuals who supported us through the hardest times and never lost hope throughout this long period. To the US government, which opened its doors to me and was always there to listen, especially @SEPeaceMissions Steve Witkoff, @jaredkushner, and the exceptional, President @realDonaldTrump. To all the people who too stood beside our hostages and understood that light must overcome darkness. We will never forget the fallen and the murdered, and we will not stop fighting until every fallen soldier and hostage is brought home for a proper burial in Israel. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This could never have happened without you. We are back ❤️